It's a pretty good friday

So today is good friday and for those who don't know, this is the day of Jesus's death. This death on a cross and resurrection is celebrated above all else, not even Christmas compares (though our society says otherwise). Most of the time, I'm still so lost as to why and Christ can willingly and obediently give his life up for someone as undeserving as me. Don't understand? Here let's put it in context

Say you had a test and you just didnt understand the material no matter how hard you studied. Your friend, instead of studying for their own test, goes over all the material with you until you understand and are ready to ace your test. The downside? Your friend hasn't studied at all and gets a failing grade. Pretty good friend right? So willing to help you with totally disregard for their own studying.

So you might think, okay you're right that's a pretty good friend. but...I'm sure there are people out there who do that. It's a pretty big deal but not THAT big of a deal. So let's take this one step further.

You're walking with your friend and your friend stops to pick something up. You walk out onto the street and a bus is coming at you. Your friend, seeing this, rushes over and pushes you out of the way.

Once again, a great friend right? To have a friend that is willing to disregard their own safety to save you. That's a true friend. But wait, you might be thinking......well iono I have some pretty close friends and I'd like to think I'd die for them.......and this is true. there are people in all of our lives that we love and would be willing to die for.....hmmmm i guess we gotta take it another step

This time you're by yourself, walking across the street, and again there's a bus coming right at you. (remember you're supposed to look left right left when crossing the street!) this time, no friends are around, but you feel yourself being pushed out of the path of the bus to safety. you turn back and a stranger has saved your life.

Wow.....that's... pretty incredible right? what a great person this is who would save you without knowing who you are. a really good Samaritan. there are still good people out there in this world.......but wait. maybe youre thinking...i'm a pretty good person....i'd like to think that i'd instinctively try to save someone if i had the opportunity....maybe? ....and true. maybe instinctively some of us would. but then again maybe some of us wouldn't. there are always feel good stories out there about kindhearted people right? good point. one more step then.

imagine that you are the scum of the earth(sorry i know this sounds harsh). you're a pretty bad person. you lie, you cheat, you've stolen before. you treat people differently than you should, youve hated people. you're unfair and prejudiced, quick to judge and anger, stubborn and a hypocrite! you've hurt others and about some, just didnt care. these characteristics only skim the surface of you. oh wait but .....you consider yourself an okay person right? overall nice? so you were mean to that person, you were nice to someone else so that makes up for it. you just told a....small lie... it won't hurt anybody? it doesn't REALLY count as a bad thing does it? it might be hard to hear but we are all these things. no matter what we do, we can not make up for all the bad that we have done. with all this being said, what do we deserve?

some of you may think, well i DESERVE my laptop because i need it for school. my parents work hard so i DESERVE to be able to have nice things. the list goes on and on. but the truth is, we don't deserve any of this.... keep that in mind.

this time, imagine this. Christ died for you, not as a perfect stranger, but rather, he knew and knows everything about you. he knows your past and all your faults and shortcomings. if someone were to look at you and judge you, they would easily come to the conclusion that you DO NOT deserve to be saved. and yet Christ willingly, obediently, and above all, lovingly, died for you. that is what Easter is about. it's the FACT that Jesus Christ, would know that I am the scum of the earth, the lowest of low, and still without any hesitation, die for you.

It can't help but humble me. And it makes no sense to me, why this would happen because knowing myself, i admit that i do not deserve any type of love and i do not deserve the gift of grace. it's astonishing to me, that this can happen. and it really makes me question, how can He love me that much?